Mud burps!!

Last night was a howler......literally! It howled with wind all night, rained on and off all night and my tent was peppered with little pine cones/pine needles from the tree I'd parked under all night! Needless to say, I woke a little tired!

I wanted to go and explore some of the Rotorua area's Thermal wonders but my plans were a little hampered when I locked my keys (as well as my purse and my camera!) in the car at my first stop and had to wait an hour for the AA man to rescue me :( By the time I got back into my car I'd missed the once-daily eruption of the geyser I was hoping to see and it was raining again - my mood was distinctly un-adventurous by this time, although I did stumble upon this pool of boiling mud which kept me fascinated with it's blurping and sploshing sounds for quite some time.

So I drove north with the vague notion of seeking out sunshine.......

Tonight I'm at a little place called Kaiau, about an hour out of Auckland on the east coast. I would have liked to get through Auckland to a beach further north but the traffic was horrendous and the thought of going through Akl and risking major hold ups didn't seem worth it. I'm figuring it should be a lot quiter on Christmas day so hopefully tomorrow I shall find myself a nice sunny beach :)

Overspill pics